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Tennis - 10. July 2017.

Konta first British Women into QF since 1984

In a defeat that cost her not just a place in the quarter-finals but her world No.1 spot too, top seed Angelique Kerber was edged out of Wimbledon 2017 in an utterly enthralling epic by Garbine Muguruza.

With the German cloaked in a near-permanent air of diffidence this year, it was horribly ironic that her dethroning should result from a contest of superlative heart and quality. Muguruza’s dazzling attack saw her into the last eight 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 in two hours and 18 minutes, and she will face Svetlana Kuznetsova for a place in the semi-finals

You didn’t have to be Brain Of Britain to spot this as a charisma-packed potential last 16 match-up from the moment the draw was made, and it more than lived up to expectations. Each of these Slam winners was experiencing a mini-crisis – Kerber struggling to own that No.1 spot in every sense, Muguruza without so much as a final to her name, never mind a title, since capturing the crown at Roland Garros 13 months ago.

With these two taking the runners-up place at the last two Wimbledons (to Serena Williams in both cases), both needed to step up a level at the start of this second week – and in a sensational battle on No.2 Court, they did just that.

Muguruza attacked the net, in the clear belief that she would struggle to beat the US Open champion from the back of the court, and the statistics relating to that tactic would ultimately spell out the story of the match. Muguruza won 35 out 54 battles at the net (Kerber advanced just seven times), and her attack yielded 50 winners – but 55 errors too, such was the risk.

Kerber’s current predicament is illustrated by the fact that this would prove to be the ninth occasion in 2017 when she had faced a top 20 opponent, and emerged vanquished. Not once this year has she managed such a win. With her place as world No.1 depending (among other factors) on her repeating her appearance in the final, in the first three rounds at this Championships she had managed to grind out the wins without giving any impression of gaining terribly much confidence from any of them. But in this fourth round, she left her habitually haunted-looking expression in the locker room and put on her game face.

Muguruza was watched courtside by her guest coach for this Fortnight, the 1994 Wimbledon champion Conchita Martinez. It wasn’t difficult to figure out their chosen tactics – the 23-year-old Spaniard was on the offensive, going for the lines and attacking the net. She prospered to the audible approval of Martinez, who applauded winners with a shout of: “Grande!” This translates as not only the approving “big!”, but as an entreaty to “keep it big” – in other words, continue with more of the same, which is what Muguruza did.

But such tactics carry one obvious in-built risk – the creation of proportionately too many unforced errors. And at 4-4 in the first, that was what transpired. Forehand mistakes set up an opportunity for Kerber, and after the latest of many long, intense rallies, Muguruza’s attempted backhand winner down the line drifted wide. Next game she was a touch hesitant, uncertain whether to keep leaving herself open to error with the set at stake. An absolutely magnificent rally decided it, with Kerber putting away a smash to take the opening chapter.

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